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By Dan Plouffe
A penalty-kicks shootout produces the kind of pressure no team enjoys experiencing to decide the fate of a season. But when the kicks go your way, the elation is unmatched.
That was the feeling three out of four champion Ottawa South United Force soccer teams got to experience at the Ontario Player Development League Charity Shield playoff finals on the Oct. 26-27 weekend in Vaughan, and no one got to savour it more than Aidan De Hartog.
The OSU goalkeeper unexpectedly got to play the hero’s role twice in one day for both his regular under-15 boys’ team as well as the older Force U17 boys.
The plan was to have De Hartog on the bench for the U17 boys’ early-afternoon final, but he was pressed into action in the 64th minute when starter Austin Wood had to exit.
Trailing 1-0 against league-champion Toronto High Park, Wood had essentially saved the match a few minutes earlier when his sprawling slide stopped a breakaway chance, but he collided with the attacking player and was injured.
The match eventually wound up being decided in penalty kicks after a 2-2 regulation. De Hartog made solid diving stops on the first and third Toronto shooters en route to a 3-3 deadlock after each team’s first five attempts, and then after he took a yellow card, he watched his opponent sky his shot high before Nathan Aquilina clinched the title for OSU with his goal.
“It’s crazy,” De Hartog said in a post-match interview on Ontario Soccer’s live webcast. “I didn’t think I was going to play, so going in was a little stressful. But going to penalties, I did it in semis and I did it at nationals, so I knew I could do it again.
“I’m very happy. This team has worked really hard. Got a lot of younger guys, so credit goes to them. They did an amazing job.”
The Force twice had to come back from a goal down in the final, despite owning a big advantage over their opponents in shots (14-6) and shots on target (9-3).
OSU at last generated a goal not long after Wood had kept them within one. Gaël Bah-Ceillier was taken down in the penalty area following a nifty back-heel pass from Ralph Khoury on a play started by a pinpoint Jaheim Hoindo stretch pass.
After coming close to scoring many times earlier himself, Reinaldo Abraham converted the penalty kick with a perfect elevated shot just inside the goal post. A U16 age player, Abraham won the league’s scoring title by an astonishing 15-goal margin with his total of 38 tallies.
Coach Emilio Millan notes that Abraham is an exceptionally clinical striker when he gets near the net, although the reason behind it in his highly consistent training, his work on strength training outside of his time with the team, and his mental approach.
“He wants to play in the big stages, he wants to be there and he’s successful in those moments,” Millan outlines. “That’s something that you want to have to be a professional and to make that next step.”
Down 2-1, OSU’s second goal came when a corner kick snuck across a pack to Khoury, who calmly blocked the ball and punted home a top-shelf shot over the Toronto keeper to equalize again.
Millan says that his team’s ability to fight back, which they’d done at other points during the season, was a major strength.
“The group mentality is amazing. They don’t give up at any moment,” he highlights. “I’m so happy for them. Their commitment is outstanding. They hadn’t reached a final, so for everything they had done together, I’m so happy to see their progress and to see them get rewarded.”
The Force started premier division play 1-1-1, including a 2-1 defeat to Toronto High Park, which wound up keeping the league title out of their reach despite running the table with wins in their final six games
But they plowed past Woodbridge 5-1 in the playoff semifinals, and then got their revenge over Toronto in the final.
A coach would usually feel a little uneasy about sending a U15 age goalkeeper into a tight U17 final, but Millan’s stress was alleviated thanks to De Hartog’s track record in pressure-packed moments. Earlier this summer, Millan was coach of the younger U15 OSU squad when De Hartog also led the team to a shootout triumph and a historic national title at the first-ever Canadian Player Development Program Championship.
The Force missed three of their first four penalties at that event, but “Aidan kept us alive when we were in the worst position to be,” Millan recalled, as his keeper wound up keeping four of six shots out for the the victory.
“It was a crazy feeling that I don’t think I’ll ever feel again,” De Hartog said at the time.
A better goalie than a prophet, De Hartog was back on the pitch again for his U15 side’s early-evening championship contest, a few hours removed from his triumph with the U17 team.
And that game ended up going to penalty kicks too after De Hartog pitched a shutout in a scoreless regulation against Woodbridge. Ali Nazari, Jadon Yu, Almedin Brkic and Isaia Rajakoba all converted their shots to give their goalkeeper much more breathing room than usual.
With his two stops, De Hartog earned his third championship title on PKs this season, his second of the day, and the title of Canadian youth soccer shootout king.
The OSU U15 boys’ only defeats in 22 OPDL games this season were 1-0 and 2-0 losses to Woodbridge, which made the victory over the same opponent in the final extra sweet.
“They definitely wanted to meet them and they definitely wanted to beat them,” Millan smiled.
“We’ve been battling against Woodbridge since we started in OPDL,” echoed team captain Foster Nancarrow on Ontario Soccer’s webcast. “I think it’s just that time at training, and that extra time after training, and working on things like penalties there (that made the difference). It feels great.
“I’ve been working with this group for so long and this is what we’ve been working for for the past three years, so it feels amazing.”
The Force started premier division play with a tie and a loss, but then won seven in a row while allowing just two goals and registering five clean sheets to take the league title.
The team repeated as OPDL champions following an undefeated campaign last season. The Force weren’t unbeaten this year, but losing a game proved pivotal for the team, Millan indicates.
“It hurt. When you lose, you kind of need to review everything that you have done to see where you stand, and from there, take the challenge to grow as a team and as individuals,” he explains. “It could have been a moment where we get down and start feeling sorry for ourselves, you know, we’d lost a few key players, but it ended up being a very good situation for us.”
Several top talents from the national-champion group moved on to professional club academies midseason, which meant some players had to adapt to new roles.
“They have been able to step up and to show that they were ready for the challenge,” Millan notes. “When you talk about the team, you need everyone. Everyone is important, and that’s the key here.”
Millan was especially impressed by his team’s performances down the stretch this season, calling them “probably even the best football that we have showcased so far.” Without the shootout king in their corner, OSU advanced to the final with a penalty-kicks win over Rush Canada in the semis.
“We believed a lot in what we do every day,” Millan underlined, noting the players’ stayed consistent in their dedication and performance. “We didn’t imagine that we were going to achieve this big accomplishment. It’s been a lot of hours that we put into this. A lot of work. And then just to see that we were able to make that final step and to win the trophies, is something amazing.”
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